Finally was able to begin sidecar upgrades. I have access to a 40' X 64' shop so am out of the elements. I haven't had the luxury of working on a real concrete surface for over 20 years!
Day 1: To start out the sidecar had to be removed from the tug. It's been a few years since they have been separated so had to verify / mark some of the wiring. "Gang plugs" are used for most connections but there are a couple of individual connections so they were marked for reassembly.
Seat is removed. Heinrich fuel tank was drained prior to removal...weighs over 50 lbs. when full.
Right saddle bag removed - 3 bolts.
After wiring is disconnected, the connection pins are pulled, the front support / hydraulic damper are disconnected...2 jack stands are placed under sidecar frame....then the bike is simply leaned to left and walked forward.
Free at last. Removed the right saddle bag also. Spent a couple hours getting to this point.
Day 2 - removed the old transmission and installed the rebuilt 4 speed transmission. The swap went without any issues. Cleaned up frame areas while trans was out. Cleaned around clutch assembly. No oil leaks evident as I hoped....Rear main seal / oil pump seal were replaced a few years ago and all looked good.
Rebuilt transmission. Had to remove the clutch actuation assembly to fit the trans in the frame. The small release bearing had fresh lube on it from when Bob's Motorwerkes reassembled it. Bob also had pre-lubed the input splines. Trans fit in perfectly with no hassle. I had previously replaced the driveline flange bolts with "non-lock washer" bolts as recommended. Used a touch of "Blu LokTite" on the threads as before. Took care to clean up threads of old LokTite prior to installation.
I have a custom made "heel / toe" shifter which I might (?) install.
Mounted the replacement mechanical speedometer. Used a small windscreen mount already present (but not used) on the bars. Was going to center the gauges but the speedometer cable length is minimal so will likely need to leave it offset to the side.
Speedo came with a stock BMW cable which appears to be fine. H20 boot was good. Just need to add a zip tie on the top flange to insure it's water proof.
Remounted carbs, but will need to pull them back off as I will next pull the cylinders out enough to replace the pushrod tube seals. Also will drop the two piece oil pan / Briel Cooler to replace those gaskets. Ordered new head gaskets / o rings / oil pan gaskets so will need to wait for their arrival later this week.
Toyed with the thought of only removing the rocker arm head nuts and leaving the top / bottom bolts in place in order to not replace the head gaskets. I have never done that but have seen it done in the past....but considering the labor involved to pull everything back apart due to a head gasket failure, I decided against that! This way I will be able to inspect / de-carbon heads / piston head if needed.
Day 3: Spent a couple hours working on bike today....removed headers / exhaust. Pulled the front engine cover off and removed carburetor's. Sorted through spare parts I've gathered over the past years. Found lots of stuff I forgot I had: 4 new driveshaft bolts which I could have used last week....but I cleaned up and reused old ones as I forgot I had new ones. Recently bought a new clutch cable as a spare, during inventory I found another shorter, new clutch cable and 4 decent used ones. So.....got plenty of them. Note to self..."don't buy anymore clutch cables".
Day 4: Today decided to tackle the oil pan gasket replacements. Pulled the pan / "Briel" spacer. Pan interior looked pretty clean. Spent over an hour cleaning mating surfaces and the years of grime on everything. I had forgot to buy oil pickup gaskets so had to go "old school" and make my own.
Scrubbed on oil pan. Could eat my lunch out of it now!
Everything appears nice and clean in the crankcase.
Pulled oil filter and changed it while I was at it. New white "$2000.00 O-Ring" and gasket.
Everything nice and clean now....oil has been leaching from pushrod tubes for quite a while...made a mess of things.
Pulled the right side cylinder and replaced the pushrod tube seals / head gaskets. Had to reuse base shim plate gaskets. Cylinder / piston carbon build up was very minimal. Forgot to take any photos in the heat of things...lol.
Will replace the left side seals tomorrow.
Replaced left side seals the following day.....but....upon "run up", found seepage at cylinder bases on both sides. I did not have replacement "shim type" metal base gaskets for the 1000 cc engine so reused the old ones. Contacted Capital Cycle, and they had the new base shims for the 1000cc engine so I ordered.....along with two more head gaskets / upper cylinder stud o'rings. Received parts in two days so went into the engine again today. Practice makes perfect they say. Ran up engine for a few minutes and all seems OK, no leaks detected. The old base shims had been reused at least 2 times so their life cycle's were more than complete.
Remounted sidecar to bike with the help of my Brother in Law. Ordered 3 new heavy duty inner tubes for all three corners tonight. Should have everything completed in the next 10 days. Still have tires to mount....and will lube all wheel bearings.
Found a small "drip" from the driveshaft boot....clamps were "snugged up" and all looks good.
Last Winter I took a lot of time to clean / organize 40 + pounds of BMW Airhead hardware and misc. small bits. Nice to have a large selection of spares. I replaced some hardware during the project.
Rode a few miles to heat things up....happened to cross paths with Bob Clement (Bob's Motorwerkes) riding his R80GS through Columbus. We visited for a bit....always nice to see Bob!
Retorqued the heads yesterday and boy they seemed "light". Upon retorque I ran them up to 27 - 28 ft. lbs. Most of the BMW "gurus" say 25 ft. lbs. but I'm sticking with the 28 ft. lbs. I've been using for the past 25 years.
Waiting on replacement tubes for the new tires....tubes in place holding fine but are at least 5 - 6 years old...time to replace.
